Atlantica - 01.01.2004, Side 18

16 A T L A N T I C A
However, most of them are not here
because of Miami itself, but rather Miami
Beach, a separate municipality.
ROLLER COASTER RIDE
But it hasn’t always been that way. No
more than twenty years ago, Miami
Beach was a place that few wanted to
frequent except for the odd accidental
tourist.
"Oh my god, it was terrible," says cab
driver Hector Nelson, who moved to
Miami from Haiti in 1978. "I was working
at a hotel next to the National on Collins
Avenue in 1980, and the area was bad,
really bad. It was nothing like today. Oh
no, my friend, it was not fancy at all."
Much has changed from the time period
that Hector’s talking about – a time when
the paint was flaking off the run-down
Art Deco buildings on South Beach and
the average age of the inhabitants was
seventy. Today, the National is one of
three luxurious hotels run by hotel
mogul Ian Schrager on Collins Avenue,
the others being the Shore Club and the
Delano. This glamorous avenue is other-
wise crammed with numerous other
luxury and also more affordable hotels,
stores and restaurants. That’s the latest
chapter in the colourful history of Miami
Beach, which evolved like a rollercoast-
er ride all throughout the twentieth cen-
tury.
Miami Beach is a city unto itself, situat-
ed on a narrow barrier island (around
2.5 km at its widest) connected to the
mainland and Miami by several bridges.
The main ascent of Miami Beach was in
the prohibition years around 1923 to
1925 when rum smugglers had easy
access into the country and the govern-
ment did little to hinder them. The sun,
the casinos, the beaches and the unlim-
ited access to alcohol turned the city
into a bright new star on the scene, but
also acted like a magnet for lots of dubi-
ous characters. A terrible hurricane
destroyed a large part of the area in the
late 1920s, and soon after the great
Florida
Scenes from South Beach. From top left: yet another fashion shoot, beach babes, catching the waves and pho-
tographing the twilight. Opposite page: It´s hard to say good-bye...to the beach.
014 Atl 104 Florida -16.ps 17.12.2003 18:11 Page 16